Japanese learning blog
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
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How Much Japanese Do You Actually Need?
The honest answer depends on what you want to do, not on how good you want to be. Pick one of five targets, and the amount of Japanese you need becomes a checklist rather than a mystery.
15 min readJapanese at the Airport: Arrival, Immigration, and Customs
The first hour in Japan is a fixed sequence of short exchanges, and almost every one of them uses the same handful of sentences. Learn the sequence and the nerves mostly disappear.
14 min readJapanese for Taxis and Getting Around by Road
A taxi ride in Japan is a short, predictable conversation with about eight sentences in it. Learn those and you can get anywhere a train does not go.
14 min readJapanese at a Cafe: Ordering, Sizes, and Staying
A Japanese cafe counter runs on a short, fixed script. Once you know the four questions staff ask and the one-word answers that satisfy them, ordering takes fifteen seconds and you can spend your attention on the drink instead of the grammar.
15 min readJapanese at a Convenience Store: The Full Counter Script
The convenience store counter is probably the Japanese conversation you will have more often than any other. It is six fixed questions in a fixed order, and once you can answer all six without thinking, daily life in Japan gets noticeably easier.
15 min readJapanese at a Supermarket: Labels, Aisles, and Checkout
A Japanese supermarket asks you very few questions, but it asks the same ones every single visit. Learn those, plus the words printed on the label, and the weekly shop stops being a guessing game.
17 min readJapanese at the Gym and for Playing Sports
A gym is one of the easiest places to start speaking Japanese, because the same twenty sentences cover every visit. This is the sign-up conversation, the machine vocabulary, and the lines that get you onto a local team.
17 min readJapanese at Museums, Galleries, and Events
A museum visit in Japan is mostly quiet reading with three or four short spoken exchanges in it. Learn those exchanges and the sign words around them, and the whole day stops being guesswork.
16 min readJapanese for Lost Items: Reporting and Getting Them Back
Japan's lost-property system genuinely works, but it runs on description. This guide gives you the sentences that turn a lost wallet into a form, a phone call, and a counter where you sign for it.
17 min readJapanese with Children: Home, Nursery, and School
Speaking Japanese with a small child uses a different register from the polite Japanese in your textbook, and the day around that child comes with its own script at the nursery door.
14 min readJapanese for Leaving Japan: Tax-Free, Check-In, Departure
Leaving Japan is a chain of short, fast exchanges with staff who ask the same handful of questions every time. Learn those questions and the whole departure day stops being stressful.
15 min readJapanese Plain Form: Dictionary, Nai, Ta, and Nakatta
Plain form is not just casual Japanese. It is the shape almost every later grammar pattern attaches to, so building it accurately is what makes longer sentences possible.
14 min readPractical guides
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